From Martinique Cata Raid 2025 Press Release #5
All pictures by Pierrick Contin
Victorien Erussard and Fred Moreau (Energy Observer), winners of today’s leg between Schoelcher and Le Marin.
At the start in Schoelcher this morning, the competitors were beginning to feel a little tired, but nothing could dampen their enthusiasm when it came to going sailing. There’s a big menu on offer though, with almost 30 miles to cover to reach the town of Le Marin, which is hosting the fleet for 2 consecutive days. As usual on the Martinique Cata Raid, the day was full of twists and turns, and the overall ranki ngs are likely to see a few upsets.
The sailors didn’t have time to rest on this third leg either: a favourable start to port led to some tricky dodges, a tricky downwind marker, and a long, long upwind leg which set a frantic pace with plenty of manoeuvres. Will they have remembered to salute Her Majesty’s Ship Diamond Rock? Nothing is less certain, as our sailors had such a hard time knitting in the crazy channel.
For a long time, it looked like the race had been won by the World and European Champion in the discipline, Ravi Parent, accompanied by Lena Weisskichel. But their pursuers were stubborn and gave their all to catch up with the leaders. Victorien Erussard and Fred Moreau (Energy Observer) took another stage win thanks to their excellent upwind speed.
What they said
Victorien Erussard – Fred Moreau – Energy Observer
“We got off to a fairly risky start on port tack and had to play around and slalom between the competitors. As we have a very good upwind speed, we quickly stretched out. 9a played out ashore and we found ourselves in 4th or 5th place with the leaders in the ranking, Gurvan Bontemps and Benjamin Amiot, just ahead of us but not very far away. We knew it was going to be a very safe race and unfortunately for them, they made a mistake on the course! 9a gave us a bit of an advantage because they’d taken 13 minutes yesterday, so it was horrible to be left so far behind!
We were 5th or 6th up to the Diamant, and that’s when we said to ourselves: come on, let’s not give up; we know we can go fast upwind, we know we’re fast. The aim was to eat up the 4 or 5 competitors in front and we sailed really well, we didn’t give up a thing.
Frankly, victory is won on physical strength, because we’ve got the experience! It was a fantastic race! It was a real pleasure!
It’s going to be an extremely close match for the rest of the race…”
Ravi Parent and Lena Weisskichel
“There were different parts to this race. At the start with flat seas, a constant wind with variations in direction. With the wind astern, we took options to try and get around the devents. In the end, we managed to get out of the calm and take the lead of the fleet and a bit of a lead. We finally rounded Point Salomon. After Le Diamant, there were still 8 miles to go and we were just trying to survive!
We’re really pleased with the way we’re progressing as a team. I think we did a good job today, much better than yesterday when we made a lot of mistakes. Tomorrow the idea will be to make even fewer mistakes, control the fleet and repeat the same scenario.
Definitely, we’re really enjoying being here on the Martinique Cata Raid, we’re having a lot of fun… and a lot of fatigue too ;-)”
Gallery
